This is the fourth installment of the Blade Sharp series by Gene Ching. This series looks at traditional swordsmanship from modern multicultural perspectives.

Blade Sharp: Eight-Section Brocade and Iaido, KungFuMagazine.com, April 16, 2024

Do Chinese Swords Make the Cut? Spring 2026 (uncredited)

Do Chinese Swords Miss the Point? Mid-Autumn 2026

“The Sword Outwears its Sheath” is a quote from the poem So We’ll Go No More a Roving by Lord Byron. Today this rings so true with almost every tradition of sword. Only a few modern expressions of swordplay still consider the sheath, or more precisely, a scabbard.

Generally speaking, a sheath is for a small blade like a knife. A scabbard refers to a longer blade like a sword. The general term for scabbard in Mandarin is qiao (鞘). This is distinguished with a prefix specifying the type of sword. A scabbard for a dao (single edged sword) is a dao qiao (刀鞘) while a scabbard for a (double edged sword) is a jian qiao (劍鞘). Back in the days when swords were sharp, a scabbard was an essential piece of equipment to protect the sword and to protect the sword wielder from the sword’s lethal edge. However nowadays, most martial arts no longer use edged weapons. Consequently, the scabbard has become baggage from days gone by.

Ironically, many modern made Chinese swords have beautiful scabbards. Several of today’s mass market scabbards are still constructed of surprisingly lustrous hardwoods with flowingly fine wood grain patterns. Traditionally, the most prized scabbard wood is huanghuali (yellow flowering pear 黄花梨). This is also highly prized as a furniture wood for its intricate grain patterns sometimes called ‘ghost face’. It’s extremely expensive, used for imperial furniture and weapons. Despite its moniker, it is not a true pear wood; huanghuali is a rare luxurious form of rosewood.

Today, many scabbards are made from pear wood. It generally has a lighter color than true huanghuali but is often stained to bring out the grain patterns more richly. It’s heavy and dense, making it good for carving.

Four examples of modern Chinese scabbards: L-R: Scabbard commemorating the 1500^th anniversary of Shaolin Temple in wood burned characters, two scabbards with hand-carved dragons, scabbard with solid brass pierced fittings using a dragon motif.

Often the scabbard wood matches the wood comprising the handle. This is true for most modern made swords. Some genuine antiques have matching handle and scabbard woods too. However, many historic sword handles were wrapped with cord, ray or shark skin, or other materials so the wood of the handles were not seen. Today, many practitioners will wrap their handles in grip tape. It’s practical for the high demands of heavy practice or competition. Tape for racquets, hockey sticks, and other modern sport instruments are readily available at any sports supply store and easy to apply. Back in the day, unwrapped handles were often textured for a better grip but that’s seldom seen in modern swords, which is again ironic, since most modern sword handles are unwrapped.

Four examples of ornate modern Chinese scabbards: L-R: Dragon Longevity and Fortune Sword, Protect the Family Precious Sword, Crane Sword, Dragon Protection Sword

One of the reasons that Chinese scabbards are so well made is feng shui. Modern day feng shui masters sometimes recommend hanging swords to ward off evil and improve luck. A sword used for feng shui can be adorned with lucky symbols, spirit animals and fortuitous Chinese characters to fortify their luckiness. Premium swords are often decorated so for these reasons of feng shui. Even real antique swords might have lucky symbols because when going into real life or death battle, one takes every advantage one can get, superstitious or not.

An antique shuang jian, 19^th century. The scabbard is wrapped in tortoise shell with fittings adorned with lucky bats. Author’s private collection.

Draw Your Sword

Anyone who has been in a real fight knows that the most critical moment lies in the transition to combat. In the martial arts practice, the beginning of a fight is clearly signified by a referee, a bell, or someone saying ‘Fight!’ Traditional martial artists even bow before and after sparring as a sign of respect. But a street fight is not about respect. Knowing when it’s time to throw that first strike is completely contextual and can make the difference between winning and losing. The sucker punch is fair game. This transition to the fight zone is something that is impossible to train because the very act of training martial arts already acknowledges that there will be a fight. On the street, you don’t know until the fight actually begins, and by then it may be too late.

The same is true for sword fights. Once a sword is unsheathed, the fight is on. However, the act of unsheathing a sword is not considered by most sword practices anymore, with the exception of Japanese Iaido. Most of the sword arts practiced today begin with the sword already drawn. Here, the lack of scabbard integration into martial practice leaves a tremendous gap. Nevertheless, different sword cultures and traditions still honor the scabbard in their own unique ways.

Olympic Fencing

In the modern sport of fencing, the scabbard has gone completely extinct. Fencers usually carry several weapons to practice and to competitions. This makes single scabbards for each weapon cumbersome and unpractical. Today, fencing weapons are carried in long equipment bags, which also can accommodate the protective jackets, masks, gloves and other items useful to a fencer. These fencing equipment bags are quite specialized and can cost hundreds of dollars.

However, there remains an echo of scabbard usage in the first parry, known as prime in French. “Prime was the first parry made when a swordsman unsheathed their sword,” explains Maestro Cole Harkness. “Prime parry, the first parry in the 8-parry French system, is a pronated parry (palm facing downward or outward) along with Seconde and Tierce.” The prime parry is still deployed in the sport. According to Maestro Harkness, “Prime protects the fencers face, neck, and chest from cuts or thrusts to the inside target.  

Maestro Cole Harkness demonstrates the First Position in fencing.

Coach Chris @M-Team demonstrates the First Position in fencing (left-handed).

Japanese Iaido

In sharp contrast, the Japanese discipline of Iaido is all about drawing and sheathing a sword. The entire art surrounds this. Each kata moves from sitting, standing or walking to drawing, striking, and then sheathing the sword.

“The term we use for the initial draw and cut is nukitsuke (抜き付け),” explains Sensei Merek Dorf. Dorf is a proponent of Ryushin Shouchi Ryu (柳心照智流), a traditional lineage of Iaido. Iaido reveals a characteristic of sword drawing that many other sword cultures have lost.

Naturally, sword fighters draw their sword from the scabbard, but they also draw the scabbard from the sword. The scabbard hand isn’t inert. It pulls the scabbard away from the sword. Different schools of iaido approach this by either withdrawing the hip or pulling the scabbard back from the sword, sliding the scabbard behind them. Ryushin Shouchi Ryu adopts the former.

Laido blade drawing.

“There’s a couple reasons why the hip retraction is used,” reveals Dorf Sensei. “One is that it clears the scabbard mouth (koiguchi 鯉口) from getting hung up on the tip of the sword (kissaki 切先) allowing for the quick draw. Two is that it creates space. It extends your effective reach, allowing you to draw a longer blade efficiently from the saya (scabbard さや). This is especially helpful for shorter-armed people. And three is koshi (waist 腰) power! In and Yo (yin yang 陰陽). Coordinating your hip movement and koshi with the nukitsuke sets up an immediate, explosive strike with power from your core.” This notion is parallel to how Chinese martial arts generate power.

In Iaido, sheathing the sword, or noto (納刀), also retracts the hip. From the perspective of wude (martial ethics 武德), sheathing the sword is critical. The noto in Iaido is a mindful process, preceded by a symbolic chiburi (blood shake 血振), a gesture to flick the blood off the blade before sheathing it. The noto is performed without looking at the saya. The practitioner’s attention remains focused on their victim, just in case they rise to attack again.

Laido blade sheathing.

Kung Fu Scabbard

Some modern day practitioners have adopted quick drawing methods from Iaido and incorporated them into their training regimen. Drawing practice, like cutting practice, is a major component of many Japanese disciplines, but few Chinese practitioners engage it. It’s just not an aspect of sword practice that has been passed down as much as the forms.

While most Kung Fu forms begin with the sword drawn and the scabbard absent, given the immense diversity of Chinese styles, it is not surprising to find a traditional form that deploys the scabbard. Sifu Bill Quan practices just such a form. The form begins and ends with the sword sheathed in its scabbard. And throughout the form, the scabbard is held in the left hand of the practitioner and deployed as a secondary weapon to complement the sword. It’s a rare form, seldom seen, which is one reason why Quan cherishes it.

Opening sequence of Ching Fung Gim – sword drawing.

This unique form comes from the school of Chu Kai Tai Chi Praying Mantis (竹溪太極螳螂). Quan learned it from Sifu Chiu Chuk Kai. “This form was taught in Vietnam by Sifu,” says Quan.  “When the Vietnam War came, Sifu fled to Hong Kong and opened his school. He not only brought his teachings but also made up an additional curriculum.”

Application of Ching Fung Gim.

Quan knows the form by the name Ching Fung Gim (note that this is phonetic romanization of Cantonese – jian is pronounced gim in Cantonese). “I don’t know the Chinese characters of this form. They may be a listed curriculum, but I did not see one in his school. Ching Fung Gim may have multiple meanings depending on the characters. One may mean ‘Gentle Wind Sword’ or ‘Green Mountain Sword’ or ‘Breeze Wind Sword.’ He has seen the characters written as 淸風劍 which might be translated as ‘Clear Breeze Sword.’ “The form closes as one places the sword back into the scabbard,” adds Quan Sifu.

Closing sequence of Ching Fung Gim – sword sheathing.

Sheathing the Sword

Though Byron’s poetic line laments how time and use wear down the sword blade, today’s martial arts practice tells a different story: it is the scabbard, rather than the sword, that has largely worn away. With the exception of Iaido, modern swordplay has relegated the scabbard to a mere historical artifact or a decorative home adornment, severing the blade from the very housing that once gave it utility, context, and safety.

Yet, as the traditions Iaido and rare lineages like Chu Kai Tai Chi Praying Mantis demonstrate, the scabbard is far more than sword baggage. Whether reduced to a subtle memory in a fencing parry, elevated to an explosive element in the expression of core power in nukitsuke, or wielded alongside the blade in a traditional Kung Fu form, the scabbard remains intimately bound to the art of the sword. To forget the scabbard is to lose the critical transition from peace to combat—and the mindful return back to peace. By preserving these unique scabbard practices, martial artists honor not just the lethal edge of the blade, but the complete, unbroken tradition of the weapon itself.

With Sifu Chiu Chuk Kai of Tai Chi Pryaing Mantis in 1988.

So We'll Go No More a Roving

By Lord Byron

So, we'll go no more a roving

   So late into the night,

Though the heart be still as loving,

   And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,

   And the soul wears out the breast,

And the heart must pause to breathe,

   And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,

   And the day returns too soon,

Yet we'll go no more a roving

   By the light of the moon.

Author:

Gene Ching is the Publisher of KungFuMagazine.com and the author of Shaolin Trips.

Maestro Cole Harkness is the owner and proprietor of Victory Fencing Gear (victoryfencinggear.com) and one of the coaches at the M Team Fencing (fencingusa.com) alongside Coach Chris, both facilities are in San Francisco. Sensei Merek Dorf oversees Santa Cruz Todokai (centralcoastsamuraidojo.com) in Santa Cruz, California. Sifu Bill Quan is also based in San Francisco and may be contacted through Sifu Lorraine Yee at Ldyee003@gmail.com.

Thread:

https://forum.kungfumagazine.com/t/do-any-chinese-sword-arts-have-drawing-techniques/38669

https://forum.kungfumagazine.com/t/blade-sharp-a-series-of-articles-on-traditional-swordsmanship-from-modern-multicultural-perspectives/63240